May 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Spain removed the managers of CajaSur, a savings bank crippled by property loan defaults, and put the bank under a provisional administrator.
The lender, based in the city of Cordoba, Spain, and controlled by the Roman Catholic Church, will be controlled by the governmentâs bank restructuring fund, the regulator said today in an e-mailed statement.
Spainâs worst recession in 60 years has driven up defaults at the countryâs banks, which have made loans worth 454 billion euros ($570 billion) to finance construction and activities related to real estate. Banks have until the end of June to seek aid from a government fund of up to 99 billion euros set up last year as the regulator seeks to hasten mergers between ailing lenders to ease over-capacity and help them recapitalize.
âThe Bank of Spain has shown itâs prepared to take action to resolve the situation at CajaSur and thatâs positive,â Alberto Espelosin, who helps manage about $12 billion at Ibercaja Gestion in Zaragoza.
The board of CajaSur, a savings bank with assets of about 19 billion euros and 486 branches that posted a 596 million-euro loss last year, last night rejected a plan to merge with Unicaja, a bigger lender based in Malaga, sparking the action by the regulator. CajaSur had been in talks since last July over a possible merger with Unicaja.
âSpecial Situationâ
The central bankâs decision to takeover CajaSur follows the seizure of Caja Castilla-La Mancha in March, 2009. CajaSur accounts for 0.6 percent of the assets of the Spanish banking industry, the Bank of Spain said. Depositors and creditors should âstay calmâ as the bank will continue to function normally under the fundâs administration, the regulator said.
CajaSur is a âspecial situationâ resulting from the failure of the merger with Unicaja, the Spanish savings bank association said in a statement sent by e-mail.
Bad loans as a proportion of total lending at Spainâs savings banks rose to 5.35 percent in March from 4.78 percent a year earlier, according to Bank of Spain data.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...ajasur-lender-hurt-by-bad-loans-update1-.html
Actually, the Bank of Spain ceized the bank because of its unwillingness to merge with Unicaja. I think CajaSur's board must be pretty pi..ed...